Any chance (no matter how small) of a clean Chan ever not winning

yes

no

In your opinion do you believe there is any chance, even the tiniest one, that Patrick Chan could skate cleanly and ever lose a competition. I am not sure if there was any skater in history that was more unlikely to ever be allowed to be beaten by the judges going cleanly than him.

I voted no as personal I have gathered from viewing competitions the last 3 seasons that 4 falls worth of mistakes (not neccessarily 4 falls per say, but 4 falls worth of mistakes) is the absolute bare minimum he would have to make for a completely spetacular 2 program effort from Takahashi, Kozuka, or Fernandez to beat him. Even that might be stingy and lower than reality.

That is just my view though. I was wondering how others felt, and if there was amazingly even a tiny chance of clean Chan ever losing.

Absolutely not. In order to beat a clean Chan, his rival will need to have skating skills equal to or better than Chan's (impossible among current skaters), and will have to land 2 different quads, one would have to be a 4-3-3 combination, the other a 4Lz, plus a 3A-3t combination, each jump with a difficult entrance, with the highest levels of spins, footwork, and the politics in his favor.

A comparable past situation was Michelle Kwan in 1998. Everyone thought that a clean Michelle was unbeatable. However, Tara's more difficult jump combination and the skating order was enough to beat Michelle who skated clean, but not as great as at the US nationals. The politics were not a factor, since both were from the USA. Earlier, in 1997 Michelle did lose when she made mistakes.

I don't see an upset taking place in Chan's case, since even a mistake filled program did not cost him a win. I think both Chan and Kim are unbeatable if they skate clean.

I know we will never see a clean Chan and that is what makes it an interesting topic. We will never learn the answer for sure (although seeing top guys skate cleanly and lose to Chan with 4 falls would seem an obvious answer as a couple others noted, but I still was curious if a certain quotient with a broad perspective on things still saw a tiny possability or not).

At the GPF Vash is referring to, Chan underrotated the quad in the short program and had a royally botched triple axel in the long (two foot, both hands down). His Worlds 2011 was probably the closest to clean he's been but for the 3A stumble.

Wow "yes" is now certain to reach double digits. Didnt expect that. You know SkateFan66 will be in at some point to vote "yes" and state "Evan Lysacek could beat a clean Chan", so that makes 10 votes minimum.

I really want to vote "yes", but that'd be wishful thinking. The poll question could just has well have been "Any chance of Chan ever being beaten, even with mistakes?"

The only small glimmer of hope is that this is an Olympic year and more people than usual will be watching, therefore Chan winning olympic gold with 3 falls and one stumble, over, say, a clean Takahashi or Fernandez with high tech content might cause enough uproar that judges would think twice before letting that happen. Maybe maybe maybe...

Losing a LP is meaningless, it is not losing a competition. If you are wearing the gold medal in the end you didnt "lose".

In the two events you refer to only Takahashi beat Chen even with all his mistakes at the WTT, and nobody beat Chan even with all his mistakes at the 2013 Worlds.

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That's because Chan was so far ahead of everyone else after the SP. I don't remember there being an uproar about his SP mark at Worlds 2013. Several people did complained he's too far ahead to be caught up by anyone regardless of what happened in LP (and they were right) mostly because his main rivals faltered in the SP and Ten never really received those kind of marks before. Anyways I don't want to beat a dead horse, but it's silly to say Chan still wins with mistakes if others are squeaky clean. If he falls 3 times and other top tier skaters (Takahashi, Hanyu, Fernandez, Ten) are clean in both phases of the competition I would bet money against Chan to win. You are welcome to take that bet if you think otherwise.

Yes clean Chan can lose. Takahashi can beat clean Chan in PCS, Hanyu in GOE, and Fernandez in base value. Atleast if judging were fair clean Chan could lose by others going clean. He is not god, even if judges treat him like one many times.

Yes clean Chan can lose. Takahashi can beat clean Chan in PCS, Hanyu in GOE, and Fernandez in base value. Atleast if judging were fair clean Chan could lose by others going clean. He is not god, even if judges treat him like one many times.

His base values arent the highest though. Fernandez's are. If Chan were scored fairly there would be about 4 men who had chances to win if all were clean, and Chan with a fall could not ever win if someone else near the top skated perfectly. He isnt best in everything, the only thing he is best in are skating skills, transitions, and maybe footwork. The way the judges score him though he is given like a 3 fall atleast advantage on the others. It isnt fair and isnt accurate to what his true skating abilities are.

Worlds last year was just embarassing. Hopefully the judges smarten up this year or figure skating will be out of the Olympics by 2018, and it will all be because of Chan.

To answer the question "no"; Patrick Chan is going to be a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in both Men and the Team Event. His name will be written with the greats ~ Gillis Grafstrom (2-time Olympic Gold Medalist), Karl Schafer (2-time Olympic Gold Medalist), Dick Button (2-time Olympic Gold Medalist).

Yes, I am a die hard Evgeni Plushenko Fan forever & always (& always have been), but I take my hat off to history and records being broken.

Alas, Barbara Ann Scott's record is going to be broken, whereas she's been the only Canadian Singles Olympic Gold Medalist in history, now Patrick Chan will add his name to hers but for Men.

Not to mention Canada will be the first country to win the gold in the brand new Team Event, which I'm most looking forward to!!!! I predict this event will overshadow the individual events in the future, just like it has in gymnastics. Jmho.

Worlds last year was just embarassing. Hopefully the judges smarten up this year or figure skating will be out of the Olympics by 2018, and it will all be because of Chan.

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If Chan wins the OGM with 3 or 4 falls, while a few others skate clean, I think the Russian media will get on his case and put the pressure on the IOC/ISU to award a few more gold medals (not that they will succeed )